James O’Keefe to headline Tampa luncheon

No need for conservative filmmaker and activist James O’Keefe to go incognito at next week’s Republican National Convention: He’ll be the guest of honor at an exclusive luncheon.

The event, scheduled for Aug. 28, is sponsored by the James Madison Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit organization. And organizers expect it to be a hot ticket, given O’Keefe’s bombastic reputation and the practicality that only 60 seats are available.

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O’Keefe will speak on “the role of the citizen journalist” and take audience questions, said Francisco Gonzalez, the institute’s vice president of advancement.

While many conservatives have hailed him as a hero, liberals often deride him as deceptive. O’Keefe has made a career going undercover and posing as various characters — most notably, a pimp — in attempts to catch left-leaning groups such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, in the midst of perceived hypocrisies.

Readers' Comments (62)

No mention of allegations of deceptive editing of his work? That's my biggest issue with him. He can go after whoever he wants, as far as I'm concerned, but if you have to manipulate what other people say in order to criticize them, I stop listening. His tactics are those of a message board troll.

I find it hard reconciling this guy's politics with the GOP base. He is more sophomoric prankster than investigator. More loser than anything. I suspect he is a pretty sad person like Limbaugh and Coulter. I expect soon someone will reveal his homosexual orientation or pederast activities. He looks like a hypocrite.